Family Dinner
by esotaria
Summary: Fluffish. John Doggett has dinner with his sister and niece after Via Negativa.


Family Dinner  
by Katie  
Disclaimer: Doggett and Scully aren't mine. Lauren Doggett is. Depending on the response I get for her I may write some more fics with her in them. Spoilers for Via Negativa.  


XXX

  
Special Agent John Doggett felt the tension leave his shoulders as he knocked on his sister's door. He grinned as he heard languid footsteps walking towards the door. _Can you go any slower, kiddo?_  
  
" Hey Uncle John!" his niece, Lauren Doggett, exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. She threw her arms around him, and uncle and niece shared a fond embrace.  
  
" Hey Lauren," Doggett said as Lauren stepped aside to let him in from the cold, " Where's Kara?"   
  
" Over there," Lauren replied, gesturing towards the kitchen, " We were just getting ready for dinner. Tuna casserole with mashed potatoes."  
  
" Sounds good," Doggett said, laying his coat aside, " You on Christmas break yet?"  
  
" Yep." Lauren nodded, grinning. She started to sing. " Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!" She did a wild spin, nearly crashing into the coffee table. Doggett managed to catch her just in time, and she burst into a fit of hysterical giggles. Doggett arched an eyebrow.  
  
" Somebody's feeling hyper tonight," he said with a smile.  
  
Lauren grinned impishly at him.  
  
" I had Coke for lunch," she told him.  
  
" That would explain it," Doggett said.  
  
" Dinner, Lauren," Kara's voice called from the kitchen, " And hi John."  
  
" Hey Kara," Doggett said, " Smells good."  
  
" You say that every time you come over for dinner," Kara said with a smile, walking in from the kitchen and hugging Doggett.  
  
" Every time it's true," Doggett said, " Now the taste..."  
  
Laughing, Kara slapped him on the arm.  
  
" Don't ruin a beautiful moment, John," she said. " Now come on, dinner's ready."  
  
As the three of them settled down for dinner, Doggett studied his two companions carefully, smiling softly.  
  
Kara Doggett, at thirty-two, was still as sweet and innocent as she was as a child. Vivacious and loving, she had been Doggett's closest friend growing up. When he had chosen a career in the FBI, she had stood beside him all the way. And when he had been reassigned to the X-Files, she had been there for him.  
  
" And the look on Mrs. Caltrider's face when Beth told her she walked to school!" Lauren laughed, " It was priceless!"  
  
Lauren. Doggett had been skeptical when Kara had impetuously decided to adopt a baby girl she had found in Russia. Being a single mother was hard enough-having your child be an adopted one seemed like an added burden. But when Doggett had met seventeen month old baby Lauren, he had immediately fallen in love. She was lively and precocious. As the years went by, he was increasingly astonished at her intelligence. She had gained a touch of cynicism, but her good humor over shadowed it all.  
  
" So how was your latest case, Uncle John?" Lauren asked, interrupting his reverie.   
  
Doggett sighed.  
  
" Bizarre," he said, toying with his fork.  
  
" Aren't they all?" Kara asked, arching an eyebrow and laughing slightly.  
  
" True," Doggett said, smiling.  
  
" So what made this one so interesting?" Lauren asked, leaning forward, her eyes sparkling with lively interest.  
  
" Well, we had this religious cult led by an ex-murderer," Doggett began, " Two agents were staking the place out. Twenty members in all. We come in the next morning, all the members and one of the agents were dead from ax wounds to their forehead. Later we found the man's partner in his own apartment, dead of the same m.o."  
  
Lauren nodded, puzzling this out.  
  
" We suspected the leader, but there were no signs of struggle. Skinner suspected it was a psychic killing-the cult believed in finding God by looking into their inner darkness. They believed in the third eye. It was hypothesized that the man used his third eye to enter the dreams of his victims and destroy their own third eye. By the time we found the leader, he tried to kill himself by destroying his own 'third eye'. He went into a coma and died."  
  
Kara shuddered.  
  
" How awful," she said, picking up the plates, " I'll let you two discuss such gory details in private."  
  
Lauren looked fascinated.  
  
" So this guy used his third eye to enter dreams and murder?" she asked.  
  
" That's about it," Doggett confirmed, nodding.  
  
Lauren chewed on her lip thoughtfully.  
  
" It makes sense," she murmured quietly.  
  
" You believe it?" Doggett asked incredulously.  
  
" Why not?" Lauren retorted. " We have no clue the powers of the human mind. We only use a small part of it. If this guy found a way to use more of it, who knows what power he'd have!"  
  
" So this is coming from the Lauren Doggett School of Medicine and the Paranormal?" Doggett asked teasingly.  
  
Lauren rolled her eyes.  
  
" Yes," she retorted, " I'm a teenager, I know everything."  
  
" Is that so?" Doggett asked.  
  
" You better believe it," Lauren said, " How's your partner, anyway?"  
  
" Scully?" Doggett said thoughtfully, stirring his coffee. " I'm worried about her. She was in the hospital during the entire case. Abdominal pain."  
  
Lauren shrugged.  
  
" So?" she said.  
  
" I don't know," Doggett admitted, " I just have a feeling she's hiding something from me."  
  
" Of course she is! You lied to her, she lies to you," Lauren pointed out, " It's not exactly her fault she feels she can't trust you."  
  
" But by now I thought she'd have gotten over it," Doggett protested.  
  
" If you just lost your closest friend, and some stranger lies to you about him, would you get over it?" Lauren said, " Be patient. Just be honest with her and she'll slowly get over it. But you're expecting too much, too soon. Seven or so years of friendship is hard to forget in a few weeks."  
  
Doggett sighed, and, grinning ruefully, shook his head.  
  
" How'd you get so smart?" he asked, and Lauren shrugged.  
  
" I like to study people," she said, and Doggett laughed.  
  
" That's for sure," he said, and reluctantly stood. " Well, kiddo, I gotta go." He gave her a quick hug, and went to find Kara. She had been standing in the doorway, smiling gently. She held him tightly.  
  
" Take care, John," she whispered in his ear.  
  
" I will," he promised. Smiling at the two women, he put on his coat and walked out into the cold, ready to face the next day.  


XXX  
The End 


End file.
